8:24 pm: Hundreds of democrats crowd the embassy suites ballroom. Michelle Lujan Grisham to take stage soon to accept her win in cd1

7:35 pm: Janice Arnold-Jones speaking to the crowd at the Republican Party at the Marriott, then Monty Newman the NM Rep. Chair and then Steve Pearce Skypes from Hobbs to addressing the Republican crowd.

7:28 pm: KRQE News 13s projects Lujan-Grisham winner of CD1.

7:20 pm: Retiring Sen. Jeff Bingaman says he’s been impressed with Martin Heinrich’s work in the House and hopes he’ll take over his seat. Dem Party chair Javier Gonzales keeping a close eye on state House saying a Democratic edge there represents a firewall against Gov. Martinez’s policies.

6:43 pm: People are slowly trickling in at the Republican headquarters. Heather Wilson expected at 8pm. She’s not expected to speak until some solid numbers come in. Most candidates are still up in their rooms.

5:59 pm: Gov Susanna Martinez is at Puesta del Sol Elementary School because it was the only area in which she was hearing there were problems voting. She was encouraging voters to come out despite the long lines; officials will be providing water and pizza to those waiting in the lines. The Governor said that there were not enough machines at the location to accommodate the turn out.

5:03 pm: via Twitter – OnPolitix ‏@onpolitix Preliminary results of an exit poll conducted for The Associated Press show that the presidential election hinges on the economy. (AP)

5:00 pm: AP exit polls: 3 in 10 voters said that most illegal immigrants working in the U.S. should be deported. Nearly two-thirds said such people should be offered a chance to apply for legal status. (AP)

4:59 pm: Officials say things have been steady throughout the day Tuesday, while other centers across the county have been slammed. Earlier Tuesday the UNM SUB was so packed with voters that the County Clerk sent out a tweet asking voters to avoid that site for awhile. Read more…

4:46 pm: Photo: Alex Goldsmith @AlexG_Reporter The NM Democratic Party stage is set for tonight’s watch party at the Embassy Suites.

4:03: While you’ve been worried about whether your favorite local candidates will win, voters in dozens of state House and Senate districts around the state looked at their ballots and saw only one choice. For a list of unopposed candidates running for the Legislature, the Public Education Commission and the Public Regulation Commission, please check out this story from KRQE.com »

3:58 p.m.: The growing outcry over long lines at the handful of polling sites in Rio Rancho has gotten so loud News 13 has learned Gov. Martinez is headed there to encourage people waiting in line not to give up and go home.

The aerial photo immediately below from New 13′s Skyranger shows the line outside Puesta del Sol Elementary School in Rio Rancho early this afternoon.

3:15 p.m.: Photos Election Day 2012: Photos from across New Mexico capturing images of Election Day 2012. View more http://bit.ly/U7urxX

Rio Rancho polling centers overflowing with voters. (Bob Martin/KRQE)

2:52 p.m.:@AlexG_ReporterCongressional candidates Janice Arnold-Jones working the phones to bring out the Republican vote. I’ll be live reporting on Michelle Lujan Grisham’s campaign tonight. Tune into #krqelive for the latest NM election coverage!

2:48 p.m.: News 13 plans Election Night coverage

As the last voters line up at the polls and when the vote numbers begin rolling in, KRQE News 13 will offer live coverage throughout this evening.

New Mexico Democrats will be gathering at the Embassy Suites in Albuquerque where News 13 reporters Katie Kim and Kim Vallez will focus respectively on the fortunes of U.S. Senate candidate Martin Heinrich and U.S. House candidate Michelle Lujan Grisham.

A few miles away reporters Kim Vallez and Nancy Laflin will join Republicans at the Uptown Marriott tracking Senate candidate Heather Wilson and House candidate Janice Arnold-Jones.

In the presidential race reporter Lysee Mitri will be meeting with Libertarian candidate and former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson for his take on the evening’s events.

Crystal Gutierrez will be stationed at Bernalillo County Election Central to report on turnout and any problems with the day’s voting and the ballot counting. Amada Goodman is covering the local issues, in particular the vote on boosting the minimum wage in Albuquerque and the city funding a big chunk of the first phase of renovating the Interstate 25-Paseo del Norte interchange.

Two high-profile state Senate races that turned ugly with an influx of outside money also are in the spotlight tonight. In Roswell Gabriel Burkhart in will focus on race between incumbent Tim Jennings and challenger Cliff Pirtle while Celina Westervelt focuses on the contest between incumbent Michael Sanchez of Belen and David Chavez.

Anchoring News 13′s coverage will be Dick Knipfing joined by Gabriel Sanchez, a professor of political science at the University of New Mexico.

Romney campaign on Election Day »
On the contrary, the Romney camp is a little more visible today. Mitt and Ann cast their vote, Romney and Ryan campaign, then then Romney and his running mate stop at Wendy’s for lunch.

After voting, Mike Weigart, 30, carries his ballot and his surfboard to the ballot box at the polling place at the Venice Beach lifeguard headquarters in Los Angeles Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012. Weigart said, “It’s awesome the polling place is where I surf.” (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

12:51 pm: The candidates for U.S. Senate have updated their Facebook Pages on Election Day. Martin Heinrich shares a voting photo and Heather Wilson posted a simple message, “Go Vote!!”

12:00 pm: Voters are flocking to the polls. By late this morning nearly 25,000 voters cast ballots at polling places around Bernalillo County, but some polls were more crowded than others.

One place seeing heavy traffic was Cibola High School in northwest Albuquerque where poll workers were alerting voters to other locations with shorter wait times, according to a KRQE News 13 photojournalist on the scene.

As of noon in Bernalillo County waits of at least 30 minutes were being reported at Cibola and West Mesa high schools with waits of 15-30 minutes at eight other locations and under 15 minutes at the remaining 59 polling places

The polls will close at 7:00 tonight. If you have an absentee ballot you must return it to any polling place by 7:00 tonight or else it won’t count.

Earlier in the morning the Bernalillo County Bureau of Elections reported 8,550 Democrats had voted today. The early turnout for Republicans was 6,613 with another 3,118 voters who declined to state a party affiliation when they registered to vote.

Nearly 150,000 Bernalillo County voters already had made their choices by voting early shattering the record of 126,000 set during the 2008 presidential election. More on that story from KRQE. com »